Acting
Nov 13, 1915
Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England, UK
Ann Way
Acting
Biography
Ann Way (14 November 1915 – 13 March 1993) was an English film and television character actress. Born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, she began her career in repertory in Birmingham in the 1950s moving from there to the Dundee Rep. Her petite build and deep-set eyes saw her frequently typecast as a stereotypically dotty or timid and mouse-like spinster. She nonetheless appeared in a wide range of roles, including the television series Dr Finlay's Casebook, Emmerdale Farm where she played an aunt of publican and newspaper correspondent Amos Brearly, Fawlty Towers (where she memorably played the Colonel's wife inadvertently served the raw red mullet in "Gourmet Night") and Rumpole of the Bailey as Dodo Mackintosh. She played the vicar's wife in Last of the Summer Wine. She also read the Mrs. Pepperpot books on the children's series Jackanory. Film roles included Carry On Loving (1970), Endless Night (1972) and Clockwise (1986) (in which she sang the Vivian Ellis standard This is my Lovely Day on the soundtrack and made comic use of the repeated line "Aren't we all such lucky people") and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) (where she played the headmistress's secretary, Miss Gaunt). A more unusual role was the 1987 short film Unusual Ground Floor Conversion in which she played an old lady gradually driving her downstairs neighbour mad by throwing water out of her window every few minutes. Way died in London, England on 13 March 1993.
Feature Films (21)
Between April and May 1816, "Bread or Blood" riots erupted across East Anglia as the price of bread surpassed the wages of agricultural and industrial laborers. While food riots had a long history in Britain, industrialization, enclosure, and globalization increasingly safeguarded the nation's food supply by the early nineteenth century
Bread or Blood
An IRA gunman on the run from the government meets an idealistic young woman and attempts to win her support for his cause.
The Dawning
A man, always very devoted to his mother, decides to look for his father whom he never met. He meets a seducing older woman prone to drinking and her aged boyfriend whom she grew tired of.
Killing Dad
A headstrong young teacher in a private school in 1930s Edinburgh ignores the curriculum and influences her impressionable 12-year-old charges with her over-romanticized worldview.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
A 14th-century peasant becomes transfixed by a statue of the Virgin Mary, and petitions to be walled into a cell attached to the church as a religious hermit.
Anchoress
Shiftless dreamer Michael Rogers fantasizes about a lifestyle above his means and marries a wealthy, young girl who just came of age. They hire a famous architect to build their dream home amidst a series of suspicious incidents. The spouse has dark intentions toward his naive, inexperienced bride. Secrets from his past and sinister ties to their house guest Greta lead to a terrible turn of unexpected events.
Endless Night
Television & Series (26)
The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
Owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests.
Fawlty Towers
A British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s, combining surreal sketches and situation comedy.
The Goodies
The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.
Lovejoy
Anthology series in which characters find themselves in weird and scary situations. Not evoked by the supernatural but by other people.
Shadows of Fear
Castle Haven was a British soap opera, set around the residents of two Victorian seaside houses that had been converted into a series of flats and bedsits. It was first broadcast on 4 April 1969, but cancelled just under a year later on 26 March 1970 100 episodes were produced, but it is believed that only fifteen minutes of the series is still in existence; the rest were wiped after transmission, as per the (then commonplace) procedure of wiping videotape.
